When Cuba's centralized system for providing basic social services
began to erode in the early 1990s, Christian and Afro-Cuban
religious groups took on new social and political responsibilities.
They began to work openly with state institutions on projects such
as the promotion of Afro-Cuban heritage to encourage tourism, and
community welfare initiatives to confront drug use, prostitution,
and housing decay. In this rich ethnography, the anthropologist
Adrian H. Hearn provides a detailed, on-the-ground analysis of how
the Cuban state and local religious groups collaborate on community
development projects and work with the many foreign development
agencies operating in Cuba. Hearn argues that the growing number of
collaborations between state and non-state actors has begun to
consolidate the foundations of a civil society in Cuba.
While conducting research, Hearn lived for one year each in two
Santeria temple-houses: one located in Old Havana and the other in
Santiago de Cuba. During those stays he conducted numerous
interviews: with the historian of Havana and the conservationist of
Santiago de Cuba (officials roughly equivalent to mayors in the
United States), acclaimed writers, influential leaders of
Afro-Cuban religions, and many citizens involved in community
development initiatives. Hearn draws on those interviews, his
participant observation in the temple-houses, case studies, and
archival research to convey the daily life experiences and
motivations of religious practitioners, development workers, and
politicians. Using the concept of social capital, he explains the
state's desire to incorporate tightly knit religious groups into
its community development projects, and he illuminates a
fundamental challenge facing Cuba's religious communities: how to
maintain their spiritual integrity and internal solidarity while
participating in state-directed projects.
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